van der Linde puts BMW M Team WRT on pole of Bathurst 12 hour

SRO

Feb 17

After his brother Kelvin did set Friday’s benchmark, Sheldon van der Linde has scored BMW’s first Repco Bathurst 12 hour pole in six years, with WRT emerging on top in an enthralling Pirelli Shootout.

Van der Linde claimed WRT’s first Allan Simonsen Pole Award, and BMW's second after Chaz Mostert and Schnitzer Motorsport in 2018.

The #32 BMW M Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 will share the front row for Sunday’s race with the #888 National Storage Mercedes-AMG, with Supercars star Broc Feeney 0.256s down in second.

Maro Engel (#130 GruppeM Mercedes-AMG) and Matt Campbell (#912 Manthey EMA Porsche) were third and fourth, yet over 0.4s behind the #32.

📷 © Courtesy of SRO Motorsports Group. #32 Team WRT M4 GT3 with Dries Vanthoor, Sheldon van der Linde and Charles Weerts

The 2022 DTM champion clocked just the second 2:01s lap of the weekend, a 2:01.9810s

Sheldon van der Linde (who finished fourth in last year’s Bathurst 12 Hour) pole sitter with #32 BMW M Team WRT BMW M4 GT3: “Honestly man, I have massive goosebumps right now. Just coming back to Bathurst and driving this track is a massive honour, for sure. To be on pole in my second running in Bathurst is obviously unexpected, for sure. My brother is here as well, trying to catch me in the race. The pressure’s on, definitely. My teammates have done an amazing job so far. As you can see, there was a bit of gravel on the side of the car, so I was obviously pushing trying to improve. Very happy with the lap, no mistakes from my side, and I think it’s a really good race car.” Source: Repco Bathurst 12 Hour

📷 © Courtesy of Mercedes Customer Racing. #888 National Storage Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with B. Feeney | W. Brown | M. Grenier

Broc Feeney, with the #888 National Storage Mercedes-AMG, who drove the first 2:01s lap (2:01.8911s) of the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour weekend in Qualifying, powered to provisional pole on Saturday afternoon ahead of the Pirelli Shootout.

Feeney’s flyer, during top 10 shootout, was a 2:02.2372s, but the Supercars driver was still 0.2562s behind the BMW.

📷 © Courtesy of Bathurst 12 Hour. #130 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Mercedes-AMG GT3 with M.Engel, D.Reynolds, F.Fraga.

Engel vaulted to third with a 2:02.4100s, in #130 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Mercedes-AMG GT3, but was still 0.429s behind van der Linde.

📷 © Courtesy of SRO Motorsports Group. #912 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) with Laurens Vanthoor, Ayhancan Güven and Matt Campbell.

Campbell pulled a 2:02.4259s to put the #912 Manthey EMA Porsche 992 GT3R 0.4449s on top 10 shootout’s fastest time.

📷 © Courtesy of Mercedes Customer Racing. #75 Mercedes-AMG Team Gruppe M Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Luca Stolz - Jules Gounon - Kenny Habul.).

Luca Stolz with #75 Sun Energy1 Mercedes-AMG GT3 did set the fifth fastest lap.

Top 12 starting grid: 2024 Repco Bathurst 12 Hour

BMW and Mercedes-AMG will share the front row for the 2024 Repco Bathurst 12 Hour as Sheldon van der Linde with #32 BMW M Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 emerging on top of Pirelli Shootout on Saturday afternoon.

The BMW will share the front row for Sunday’s race with the #888 National Storage Mercedes-AMG, with Supercars star Broc Feeney 0.256s down in second.

#32 Team WRT BMW (D.Vanthoor/S.van der Linde/C.Weerts)
#888 National Storage Mercedes-AMG (B.Feeney/W.Brown/M.Grenier)
#130 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG (M.Engel/D.Reynolds/F.Fraga)
#912 Manthey EMA Porsche (M.Campbell/L.Vanthoor/A.Güven)
#75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG (K.Habul/J.Gounon/L.Stolz)
#2 KFC/Jamec Team MPC Audi (B.Schumacher/M.Winkelhock/R.Feller)
#22 Wash It/Jamec Team MPC Audi (L.Talbot/K.van der Linde/C.Haase)
#46 Team WRT BMW (V. Rossi/M.Martin/R.Marciello)
#911 The Bend Manthey EMA Porsche (Y.Shahin/H.King/A.Picariello)
#88 Triple Eight JMR Mercedes-AMG (P.Jefri Ibrahim/J.Love/J.Whincup)
#77 Craft Bamboo Mercedes-AMG (D.Juncadella/J.Ojeda/M.Götz)
#9 Hallmarc Team MPC Audi (L.Holdsworth/D.Fiore/M.Cini)

A 29-car field will tackle the race which will get underway at 5:45am AEDT on Sunday (Saturday 7:45pm CET, 1:45pm EST) morning at Mount Panorama. Source: Repco Bathurst 12 Hour